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Darren Lehmann, the Australian coach, admits that he and his team have a lot to learn after their 3-0 Ashes defeat to England

Daniel Brettig26-Aug-2013Australia must improve and so too, by his own admission, does their coach Darren Lehmann. In the aftermath of a 3-0 series defeat that ended with an ICC fine for too readily taking the bait thrown by England fast bowler Stuart Broad, Lehmann said he had learned much from his first international assignment, including the fact that even a “jovial” radio interview back home can ping around the world if he does not choose his words more wisely.Lehmann arrived in the job only two weeks before the start of the Ashes bout, and while he has been credited with lifting Australia’s team spirit and preaching an aggressive, flair-filled brand of the game, he has been unable to bring about the lift of standards required for the team to win a Test match. They have now gone nine Tests without singing the team song, and as Lehmann acknowledged his error in responding to Broad, he also spoke of unearthing a “winning attitude”.”It was a good learning curve for a new coach, wasn’t it?” Lehmann said. “You know, a jovial setting but you’ve got to learn from that. I’ve got to learn and improve from that. The players aren’t on their own in trying to improve. Coaches have got to improve so that’s something I’ve got to get better at. I’ve had a chat with him (Broad) already. We just move on.”I’m still loving it, it’s a great job. I’d like to win a Test match though, but it’s a fantastic job. Now I’ve seen all the players here, and the one-day and Twenty20 players are obviously [arriving] Thursday, so you get to deal with them and look at how we’re going in that format of the game as well. By the end of the tour I’ll have a really good mindset on all the players, which will be quite comforting for me as coach.”Lehmann did not retreat for one moment from the version of cricket romanticism he and captain Michael Clarke have shown an evangelical zeal for, even though England’s shrewdness and pragmatism has stonewalled them repeatedly across the series. He took pride in having setup a thrilling final day of the Oval Test, though the generosity of Clarke’s declaration meant the tourists were ultimately left cajoling the umpires into using their light meter and ending play – the object of a crowd’s well-oiled booing at the end of the match.”Look, I can’t control the crowd. They’ve been pretty good all series. We’ve kept them quiet most of the time, even though we are 3-0 down, so it shows how close it probably is,” Lehmann said. “In regards to that you can’t do anything about that. What I do know is that game was set up totally by the Australian cricket team and I think the crowd probably enjoyed that more than the other days so far. That’s the brand of cricket we want to play. We want to push the boundaries.”We were quite happy to lose a game to set up the game. English fans have been great all summer, but to come out and see that on the last day, I think it was outstanding from Michael and the set-up what we tried to do. We want to keep challenging our players in those situations to get better, learn from the mistakes we make. We’re going to make mistakes, we understand that. But we’ve got to improve from there. If we do that, then we can challenge.”Having had so little preparatory time ahead of the series and also no say in the touring party that was chosen, Lehmann said that while he had been impressed overall by the work ethic of the players, changes could be expected before the return matches in Australia. It may be that Lehmann asks for his own choices of assistant coaches, as has become fashionable in 21st century sport.”It’s great learning about the players how they are. I’m very impressed with their work ethic on and off the ground, how they go about it,” Lehmann said. “I think there’s a lot of improvement in our setup, which is exciting for me. Would I change too much? Really hard when you’ve just come into the setup and the touring side’s been picked. When we’re back home you’ll probably see different things happen, but in terms of hearing a lot of things from outside and not being in that circle for many years, to come in and see how they’re trying to improve all the time was impressive for me. Now it’s just a matter of improving that skill level for us to compete better than we have.”

Ross Taylor, New Zealand captain, has said that his team’s focus wouldn’t shift beyond the matches in the group stage in the World Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2012New Zealand will be wary of its group-stage opponents in the World Twenty20 and won’t look “too far ahead” early in the tournament, its captain Ross Taylor has said. New Zealand are in Group D along with Bangladesh and Pakistan.New Zealand pulled off a thrilling one-run T20 win against India in Chennai on Tuesday, which capped their tough tours of West Indies and India over the past two months. But Taylor said the threat of the Bangladesh and Pakistan spinners in Sri Lankan conditions would stop his team from being overconfident.”We’ve got a tough pool in Pakistan and Bangladesh and we don’t want to look too far ahead of those two matches,” he said.”Twenty20 is a game where you now have to play attacking but they do have world-class spinners in their sides and we need to acknowledge that and allow our players to combat it,” Taylor said.New Zealand play Australia and South Africa in two warm-up games before their first match of the tournament on September 21.”Australia played very well in their last game, I’m sure they’ll take a lot of confidence from that. The way [David] Warner and Watto [Shane Watson] batted set a very good platform for the side. Any New Zealand-Australia game is obviously competitive and we’ll be looking forward to trying a few things and obviously want us to win the game as well.”On Tuesday, New Zealand, after being in a position to lose for a major part of India’s chase, stuck together a few economical overs at the death through James Franklin and Jacob Oram to take them to victory. Taylor, however, said the win shouldn’t affect their focus on the upcoming tournament.”I think it gives you a little bit of confidence but you don’t want to get too carried away. It’s just one win.”New Zealand’s coach Mike Hesson, hinted that the side would start experimenting once they were “confident about our own game”.”It’s sort of adjusting to the changing humidity, which will take a couple of days so a couple of good trainings and get ready for the warm-up game. Just making sure we give everyone some decent opportunities. Obviously, the key is once we get to the Bangladesh game, once we feel confident about our own game, we’ll certainly give a number of people different opportunities,” Hesson said.He was especially pleased with the side’s resilience to respond positively to the Hyderabad Test, Hesson’s first match as a coach, to run India close in the second Test in Bangalore and finally notch up a win in Chennai.”It was certainly a challenging start: playing in Hyderabad was obviously difficult in terms of quick turnaround from the trip to the West Indies. But I thought the progress the guys showed in Bangalore in the second Test certainly showed improvements with the bat especially, in terms of intent and in terms of defensive spells against the spin bowling, I thought we made good improvements there.”We were frustrated to have the Twenty20 washed out [in Visakhapatnam] but the character we showed in the second T20 against a good side in Chennai gives the guys a lot of confidence heading into the tournament.”The game involved a collision between Kyle Mills and Brendon McCullum as they went to take catch off Yuvraj Singh. Mills, who left the field immediately, will have an x-ray on his left cheek, which Hesson mentioned as a precautionary measure.”He’s going to go for an x-ray today, just of his cheek and just make sure there’s no break there. We’re pretty confident there’s not, but it’s always nice to check that out. And he’s also got a fairly badly bruised hip so we just have to assess where he’s at.”A team decision may be taken on the role of McCullum, who is suffering stiffness in his knee and right arm.

Paul Valthaty, the Mumbai batsman whose form with the bat during this year’s IPL put him in the spotlight, has said he is looking forward to playing for Himachal Pradesh in the upcoming Indian domestic season

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2011Paul Valthaty, the Mumbai batsman whose form with the bat for Kings XI Punjab during this year’s IPL put him in the spotlight, has said he is looking forward to playing for Himachal Pradesh in the upcoming Indian domestic season. His move to Himachal Pradesh is subject to the Mumbai Cricket Association providing him with a No-Objection Certificate, for which he has applied.If the move goes through, Valthaty will be playing in the Ranji Trophy Plate League since Himachal were relegated from the Super League after finishing bottom of their group last season.”Personally leaving Mumbai will be tough; after all my entire life has been based here, including my cricket. But when I got an offer from Himachal, I decided to move on,” Valthaty told . “It will be a good opportunity for me to showcase my talent and I’m looking forward to the upcoming season. My IPL performance has certainly boosted my confidence and I want to continue the good work.”Valthaty’s decision comes soon after he was named vice-captain of Mumbai’s 15-man squad for the Buchi Babu All-India Invitational that will be held later this month. Valthaty is yet to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and has represented the team in only one List A game, against Baroda in 2006. Following his headline-grabbing century against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, Valthaty was engaged in a tussle with Sachin Tendulkar for the top spot on the run-scorers’ charts, before finishing the league at No. 6 with 463 runs from 14 games.Vishal Marwaha, the joint-secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, said the organisation was waiting on the NOC. “He [Valthaty] is yet to submit his NOC, but we are hopeful to get it at the earliest. The way he performed during the IPL has certainly shown his talent and we are confident that he will deliver for us.”

Nottinghamshire made a positive start to their match against Warwickshire as they looked to put t20 disappointment behind them

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge16-Aug-2010
ScorecardAli Brown helped push Nottinghamshire forward at a good pace on the opening day•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire were still smarting from the perceived injustice of their defeat against Somerset – stoutly supported by Duckworth and Lewis – that denied them a place in the Friends Provident t20 final at the Rose Bowl on Saturday. The bad news, for Somerset and Yorkshire, is that they intend to pursue their number one goal, namely winning the County Championship, with renewed vigour.Two points clear and with three home matches among the five they have left, they are well placed to fulfil that ambition and will back themselves to use home advantage to the full. Nottinghamshire prepared good cricket wickets for their first four Trent Bridge fixtures in April and May and won three of them. They will look for a pay-off from taking the same approach now.With that in mind they chose to bat first when Chris Read won the toss here, in spite of what looked like a good track to bowl on. It soon became clear that they would force the pace, risk losing wickets and take every scoring opportunity that came their way. In the circumstances, 328 all out from 87.5 overs looked like a decent return.There was always something in the pitch for the bowlers but, with proven batting at least down to No. 8, Nottinghamshire knew they could rattle along at four an over for much of the innings and while a Warwickshire attack lacking the injured Neil Carter performed for the most part acceptably Nottinghamshire numbered few clear failures.Ali Brown, the veteran destroyer who at 40 continues to defy the years, emerged in the event as the home side’s steadying influence, holding things together somewhat with 76 off 138 balls, although he did not waste many opportunities. Coming in at 146 for 4, he supervised the addition of a further 176 runs before he flicked a ball from Boyd Rankin to Varun Chopra on the leg side boundary, sharing a notable partnership of 83 with Chris Read for the sixth wicket and a valuable 30 with a determined Ryan Sidebottom for the ninth.Earlier, Mark Wagh had continued the theme of a series of enjoyable reunions with his former county by stroking 54 off 109 balls, with eight fours. The stylish right-hander, who will be missed when he retires from cricket to become a commercial lawyer next year, has had five first-class innings against Warwickshire since his move to Trent Bridge in 2007, scoring 378 runs, including two centuries.Nottinghamshire’s batting would be stronger still if they could find the right combination at the top, although perhaps, given the nature of the pitches, it is hardly surprising that none of the partnerships tried has lasted long.Alex Hales and Matt Wood are the fifth pairing used this season, Hales having previously opened with Bilal Shafayat, Samit Patel and Neil Edwards, who has also been teamed with Shafayat. No partnership has managed more than 43 and that record was not improved here as Hales, looking to force off the back foot, nicked a catch to Tim Ambrose for 9.Wood was also caught behind, following a ball from the impressive Chris Woakes to perish for 15, but by then Wagh was beginning to find some rhythm and he and Patel added 60 for the third wicket in 82 balls.Patel, right on message from the outset and looking to score at every opportunity, picked up his first 28 runs in boundaries. In the conditions, batting was not straightforward, however, and when Warwickshire introduced Darren Maddy’s skiddy medium pace as the fifth bowler used there was an immediate divided as Patel edged to second slip. David Hussey’s innings followed a similar pattern, the Australian briskly picking up half a dozen fours before chopping on to Woakes.Read, far and away Nottinghamshire’s most reliable batsman, maintained the momentum with 45 off 52 balls, including two sixes – one streaky, off a top-edged hook, the other less so – off Boyd Rankin, before Maddy bowled him with a ball that probably bounced less than he anticipated.Warwickshire will feel they should have done better. They put down four catches, Wood escaping on 6 when he edged Woakes to Rikki Clarke at second slip and Hussey on nought with Clarke again the perpetrator and Maddy the unlucky bowler.Read had a let-off on 11 when Maddy, who seemed to misread the ball’s trajectory, made a gallant but unsuccessful one-handed attempt at mid-on off Imran Tahir. Maddy also put down a much simpler chance at slip off Clarke when Andre Adams was on 1, although the Nottinghamshire No. 9 added only five more runs.Warwickshire negotiated six overs without loss at the close with one scare, Ian Westwood getting a leading edge to Sidebottom’s fifth ball and watching with relief as Paul Franks, diving forward at short mid-on, failed to scoop the ball off the deck.

The board has compared it to the kind of review England undertook in 2015 after their group stage exit at the ODI World Cup that year

Danyal Rasool09-Sep-2024The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to undertake a wholesale review of all aspects of international and domestic cricket in a bid to “restore the pride and excellence” of Pakistan cricket.For the review, the opening form of which will be a meeting called a “connection camp”, the board will invite both head coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie to Lahore, with chairman Mohsin Naqvi also in attendance. Several centrally contracted cricketers, including both international captains Shan Masood and Babar Azam, will attend the camp, which will be held on September 23. The goals of the camp involve a rebrand of the kind of cricket Pakistan play across formats right down to grassroots levels, with a view to reverse the steady decline in international performances from the Pakistan national side across formats of late.The formation of the camp is the idea of the PCB chairman himself. It is not understood to be designed around specific, short-term concerns such as any proposed changes to the men’s national captaincy in either format, or the squad selection for any upcoming series. Its scale, instead, is a rather more ambitious review. Privately, PCB officials have compared it to the kind of review England undertook in 2015 following their group stage exit at the ODI World Cup that year. Held as the gold standard for the speed at which the cultural reset was achieved, England went on to become the number one ranked white-ball side, and won the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup.Related

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The specifics around how they achieve that are somewhat less clear, but Naqvi believes the connection camp is the first step towards reversing the course of the national side. The PCB feels it needs the camp to set out a unified vision and shared purpose, and to understand how it is perceived by fellow cricketing nations, as well as its own fans.It is not surprising to see why the comparison with the England review appeals to the PCB. Its success was achieved at great speed, with a series against New Zealand immediately following that disastrous World Cup demonstrating how quickly a tide could be turned.One significant challenge is the quality of talent Pakistan can draw from. After their cultural reset, England were able to draw from a pool that has come to be seen as their white-ball golden generation, while just last month, Naqvi acknowledged Pakistan’s reserves of talent in domestic cricket were worryingly low, dampening the prospect of a quick reversal.The PCB has also gone all in on the domestic one-day competition, rebranded as the Champions One-Day Cup. It is set to be held in Faisalabad from September 12 to 29, a week before the start of Pakistan’s Test series against England, with the connection camp taking place on a rest day during the tournament. Naqvi expressed confidence this tournament would be able to begin restocking the domestic player pool, and with the connection camp, he believes he has the opportunity to reshape the board’s vision.There is, however, recognition that any such discussion, camp or meeting will be met with huge scepticism from the fans. The PCB is understood to accept there is a massive gulf of trust between the board and the game’s followers, who do not believe Pakistan cricket is heading in the right direction, or indeed that the right people are running it. While the camp looks to begin bridging that trust, the only tangible way to do that will involve better results on the field in international cricket.

He recently lost his place to Sediqullah and the veteran opener Shahzad in the national team set-up

Umar Farooq04-Jul-2023Following his exclusion from the Afghanistan national side, opening batter Usman Ghani has chosen to take a break from international cricket. Ghani alleged that the leadership in the Afghanistan set-up is corrupt, and that he would “eagerly wait for the right” management and selection committee before making a comeback.Ghani last represented Afghanistan in March against Pakistan, scoring 7 and 15, and in the last two years played 11 T20I innings at an average of 23.50 and a strike rate of 99.15. His international debut was in 2014 and he last played an ODI in 2022 before losing his place in the 50-over format. With his recent exclusion from T20Is in Bangladesh, he is effectively ruled out of white-ball cricket. Ghani has never quite been considered for red-ball cricket.”After careful consideration, I have decided to take a break from Afghanistan Cricket,” Ghani wrote on Twitter. “The corrupt leadership in the cricket board has compelled me to step back. I will continue my hard work and eagerly await the right management and selection committee to be put in place. Once that happens, I will proudly return to play for Afghanistan. Until then, I am backing myself from representing my beloved nation.”Ghani also stated that he made multiple attempts to meet the chairman of Afghanistan Cricket Board, Mirwais Ashraf, but “he remained unavailable.” Ghani also criticised the new chief selector Asadullah Khan for not offering a “satisfactory response” on dropping him from all formats.In the Afghanistan set up, Ghani has been replaced by veteran wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Shahzad, who returned after a gap of 19 months after improving his fitness and scoring runs consistently in the domestic circuit. He was among the leading run-getters, scoring 264 at an average of 44 in the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup and 440 runs at 88 in the regional Miwais Nika three-day tournament.For the opening slot, the selectors have retained 21-year-old Sediqullah Atal. He scored three half-centuries, including 94 for Defenders in the Green One Day Cup, averaging 49.75 in four games. Atal is considered a long-term prospect for the national side.”Shahzad’s selection is based on domestic performance and we want to see him up there,” chief selector Asadullah told ESPNcricinfo. “We are basically looking at the 2024 T20 World Cup and trying out players. With Shahzad, we feel he can contribute with this opportunity for him to prove how well he can do. He is not part of our ODI plans but the focus is to go with him to the T20 World Cup. Also, it was the captain and coach’s demand to see Shahzad as an option and how it goes. We don’t have anyone other than [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz in the top order so we want to build a backup.””We have plenty of time for the T20 World Cup, so it’s not an end for anyone. We have plenty of cricket coming ahead and will keep including youngsters. We have invested a lot in youngsters and they are part of the pool like Sediq Atal is there as well. So we also want to make sure we have more options. Our plan is to build a bigger pool and we have players for every role to gain benefit in different conditions against different opponents. We must have different options on the bench to counter the strength of opponents.”On Ghani’s allegations, though, the ACB offered no comment. Afghanistan play three ODIs and two T20Is in Bangladesh starting Wednesday.

Capitals head coach also says Mitchell Marsh will be ready for selection against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 10

Hemant Brar02-Apr-20221:59

Will bowlers make the difference this season?

South Africa seamer Anrich Nortje is only a couple of spells away from being available for Delhi Capitals at IPL 2022, the franchise’s head coach Ricky Ponting said on Saturday. There has been a lot of mystery around Nortje’s back and hip injury as the seamer hasn’t played competitive cricket since the T20 World Cup last November.Ponting also confirmed that David Warner would be available for Capitals’ next game, and hoped for Mitchell Marsh to be there for the one after that. Warner was rested for Australia’s ongoing limited-overs series in Pakistan but, along with other Cricket Australia-contracted players, was not available to play in the IPL till April 6. Marsh, meanwhile, is nursing a hip strain.Related

• Gill and Ferguson make it two in two for Gujarat Titans

“Nortje bowled at 100% this morning in the warm-ups,” Ponting said after the match against Gujarat Titans. “I think he has to get through another maybe four- or five-over spell at 100% capacity and then if he gets clearance from Cricket South Africa, he should be ready to go. We have got a few more days before our next game [against Lucknow Super Giants on April 7], so hopefully he is available for selection for that one.”I think David Warner has arrived in Mumbai. He left early yesterday morning I believe, so he should be there when we get back to Mumbai tonight. Mitchell Marsh has been in Mumbai for a few days, obviously getting his quarantine done. I think he might be out of quarantine tomorrow actually.”We are hoping that he [Marsh] is gonna be available for the game on 10th [against Kolkata Knight Riders]. He picked up that slight hip flexor strain in Pakistan. So we need to get a lot of treatment work into him and obviously a few good training sessions before he is available for selection. But fingers crossed, Davey should be there for the next game and Mitch Marsh for the game after.”Ponting on Nortje: “I think he has to get through another maybe four or five-over spell at 100% capacity”•BCCI

Talking about the defeat to Titans, Ponting said the early wickets cost them. Chasing 172 at the MCA Stadium in Pune, Capitals fell to 34 for 3 inside five overs. In their opening game against Mumbai Indians as well, they had lost three wickets inside the powerplay but there Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel had helped them pull off a coup.”On this wicket, on this ground, we thought it was a very, very chaseable total,” Ponting said. “Unfortunately for us, for the second game in succession we were behind the eight-ball early. There were a few too many quite soft dismissals from our batsmen tonight.”If you are losing three wickets in the powerplay, it’s really hard to win games from there. We know that, the stats say that, they have said that right through the history of T20 cricket. That’s certainly one area that we got to get better at, getting through that powerplay. None or one down would be a nice start to a run chase.”Despite the early wickets, Capitals were in a comfortable position at the end of 14 overs. They needed 54 runs in the last six overs with Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell in the middle. Losing from there, Ponting said, was more disappointing.”There probably was a little bit of panic,” he said. “At no stage tonight did the run rate go out of hand and that’s what probably makes it a more disappointing loss than it probably looks on the scoreboard. We went down by 15 [14] runs but the [required] run rate never got above 9.5.Ponting felt there was a “little bit of a panic” in the way Capitals approached their chase against Gujarat Titans•BCCI

“We had Rishabh in the middle of a really good innings. Rovman Powell had just gone out. If those two had been out to bat together for two-three more overs, I think we would have won the game. But we were not good enough to do it.”Titans’ bowler who dealt Capitals telling blows was Lockie Ferguson. He sent back Prithvi Shaw with his very first ball in the match. In the same over, he dismissed Mandeep Singh, too. Later, he came back to get rid of Pant and Axar in another, decisive double-wicket over.Talking about Shaw, who has been out to the pull shot twice in two games, Ponting said: “I thought he played beautifully in the first game. I think he got 38 off 24 balls and got us off to a good start in the powerplay. He didn’t go on to capitalise as you would have liked but because of that start, we were good enough to go ahead and win that game.”Unfortunately today Ferguson comes into the attack and probably gets Prithvi out exactly the way they would have planned. Unfortunate for him but we will have a good chat with Prithvi. He has been out twice now playing that pull shot, so we might have to do a little bit of work on that with him over the next few days.”

Jimmy Peirson raced to a maiden first-class hundred before South Australia suffered another horrid first innings

Alex Malcolm09-Nov-2020Former Test opener Matt Renshaw reached his first Sheffield Shield century in over two years while Jimmy Peirson produced his maiden first-class century to put Queensland on top as South Australia collapsed at Glenelg Oval.Mitchell Swepson claimed his third consecutive five-wicket haul, albeit with some helpful umpiring decisions, to again press his credentials for a call-up to the Test squad as the Redbacks disintegrated late on day two.Renshaw’s last Shield century came in March of 2018 just prior to his last-minute recall to Australia’s Test team for the infamous final Test in South Africa. He made three more first-class centuries in the first three months of the 2018 county season for Somerset but had since endured a stretch of 41 first-class innings without reaching three figures, during which time he was dropped by both Australia and Queensland and took a break from the game.Batting at No. 5 for just the fifth time in his career, Renshaw began the day on 84 alongside Peirson, who was 60 not out, following a dominant opening day. Renshaw nudged his way to a century, bringing it up with a thick edge to third man while Peirson cruised to his maiden hundred from just 116 balls before falling just one run shy of a 200-run stand.Renshaw then teed off on legspinner Lloyd Pope, clubbing him for 23 in an over to race past 150 and set Queensland up for a lunchtime declaration at 5 for 496. South Australia’s bowlers suffered another hiding. In five bowling innings in four matches this season the Redbacks have taken five wickets or fewer four times and are yet to bowl a side out. They have conceded 480 or more in the first innings of all four matches.Queensland’s attack took 9 for 154 on the same surface in the afternoon. The extra pace of Brendan Doggett and sharp spin of Swepson did the damage. Travis Head continued his outstanding form striking seven boundaries in 37 but was unfortunate to be given out lbw to Swepson when a big spinning leg-break from around the wicket appeared to strike him outside the line.That sparked a calamitous collapse. Will Bosisto faced 139 balls for 38 before holing out to point and then Harry Nielsen nicked the second ball he faced attempting an expansive drive on the up. Swepson got another fortuitous decision when Liam Scott was given out lbw despite a huge inside edge, but he was too good for Chadd Sayers and Wes Agar to bag his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.The collapse was complete when Daniel Worrall was run out for a diamond duck. The retiring Callum Ferguson was left stranded 11 not out at stumps with the Redbacks still 342 runs behind.

The ACB has sanctioned him for breaching a code-of-conduct policy that requires players to seek the board’s permission before travelling abroad

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2019Mohammad Shahzad, the Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman, cannot play “any form of cricket” for a year. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), which had earlier suspended Shahzad indefinitely for breaching the board’s code of conduct, has fixed the term of his suspension.Shahzad’s suspension comes after he breached of a policy that requires players to seek the board’s permission before travelling out of the country. ESPNcricinfo understands that Shahzad is based in Peshawar, Pakistan, and was recently seen training there.”ACB has well-equipped training and practice facilities within the country and Afghan players do not require to travel abroad for such purposes,” the ACB said in a statement on Sunday.Last year, the ACB had fined Shahzad and asked him to relocate to Afghanistan permanently or risk having his contract terminated.Shahzad spent his early years in a refugee camp in Peshawar, but his parents are originally from Nangarhar, Afghanistan. Like many of his Afghanistan team-mates, Shahzad grew up near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; he also got married in Peshawar. A significant number of Afghans, once refugees, now reside in Pakistan, mainly in Peshawar, registered in the country as temporary residents.Shahzad has been in the news a fair bit in recent times. He was sent back home from the World Cup because of a knee injury but told media in Kabul soon after that he was fit to play and hinted that the team just didn’t want him with them. “If they don’t want me to play, I will quit cricket,” he had said at the time.The senior cricketer, an integral part of Afghanistan’s rise up the ranks to Test status, had also served a retrospective one-year ban in 2017 for “inadvertently” consuming a banned substance.

Notts skipper smashed a career-best 124 to keep team’s hopes of reaching the knockout phase of the Royal London One-Day Cup alive

ECB Reporters Network03-Jun-2018
ScorecardSteven Mullaney smashed a career-best 124 to keep Nottinghamshire’s hopes of reaching the knockout phase of the Royal London One-Day Cup alive following a 31-run win over Durham at Emirates Riverside.The Outlaws’ skipper was the difference between the two sides as he guided his team out of trouble at 73 for 5 to a competitive total of 255, with a balance of quick running and power hitting towards the end of the innings.Durham lost their composure in their chase, losing wickets at vital times to succumb to the defeat. The result gives Notts a real chance of securing a quarter-final berth at the least ahead of their final match against Derbyshire.The visitors were inserted by Durham skipper Tom Latham, and Mark Wood got his side off to the perfect start clean bowling Riki Wessels off the first ball of the innings. Alex Hales struggled to get going in his innings and was caught looking to break the shackles by Michael Richardson. The introduction of Gareth Harte paid dividends as Moores knicked off behind for 23, while Matt Dixon had Samit Patel caught at fine leg.Despite Durham’s inroads, the presence of Ross Taylor was a threat. He was looking in good touch at the crease, but then played on to a Harte delivery to put the home side in the ascendancy. Mullaney and Chris Nash were able to stabilise the innings by knocking the ball around the ground. The duo were steady in their approach, putting on a fifty partnership in 92 deliveries.Ryan Pringle ended the partnership with a turning delivery to dismiss Nash lbw for 40, while Billy Root followed cheaply. However, Mullaney remained composed at the crease to notch his fifty before upping the ante towards the end of the innings. Dixon felt the brunt of his onslaught as he powered his way towards three figures.The Notts skipper reached the milestone off 111 deliveries, including seven fours and three sixes. Mullaney pushed on in the final over to reach his highest List A score, hitting Dixon for three-straight sixes before he was caught by Richardson for 124. Dixon ended with figures of 2-88 – the most expensive List A statistics recorded by a Durham bowler.The home side’s reply began poorly as Cameron Steel edged behind to hand Jake Ball his 100th List A wicket. Graham Clark and Richardson built a steady partnership, putting on 50 off 80 deliveries. Samit Patel dropped Clark off his own bowling, but returned in the following over to dismiss the opener for 36.Latham arrived at the crease with an attacking intent. He found found the rope four times and also scored a six, but was then out tamely to Nash for 28. Will Smith joined Richardson in the middle and the duo picked up from where they left off in their last outing, reaching their fifty partnership at a brisk pace.However, Durham lost quick wickets to stifle their momentum as Richardson, Poynter Smith and Harte were dismissed as the pressure started to build. The tail were left with a huge task as the required rate soared, and the visitors were able to hold their composure to secure the win.